


AC20 Day 9: Destruction

by The_Rose



Series: Rose's Advent Calendar 2020 [9]
Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: Angst, F/M, Follow up, Illidan's POV for the memories of the last part, Khadgar is a little shit to the adventurers, Legion timeline, Unsaid feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:54:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27979170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Rose/pseuds/The_Rose
Summary: Illidan finally came back to life, his death at Maiev's hands haunting him.Yet, he's happy to help and to know that at least, Maiev can be happy now.Isn't it?(Follow-up from "AC19 Day 18: Disillusion".)
Relationships: Maiev Shadowsong/Illidan Stormrage
Series: Rose's Advent Calendar 2020 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2036257
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	AC20 Day 9: Destruction

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!
> 
> Here's the third installment of “You were once everything that I wanted.”.  
> I can already announce that there will be a fourth one next year, and probably the last, but I cannot promise it yet.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

_ The cold metal slowly slid over his skin, stopping right where his heart was, and suddenly, the blade pushed its way through to the organ. Surprised, he opened his eyes, only to be welcomed by two shining and raging silver eyes, only wishing death upon him. And everything went black. _

Illidan woke up with a silent scream as he jumped to sit in the bed, a hand over his heart as he remembered the dream of his death. Gradually, he slowed down his breathing to calm down, knowing that he was safe in the Fel Hammer for the time being. Shaking his head to get rid of the nightmares, he let himself slid out of bed to get himself ready for the day, especially that it wasn’t going to be a day like the others, indeed, that day, they were going to take back the Broken Shore and establish a headquarter on it to fight back the Legion and send the demons back to their cursed planet.

It had been a few days since they had brought him back to life, doing it only to prevent Sargeras from taking over his body and in some way, Illidan was glad that it had been the case. The afterlife in the Twisting Nether was one of the worst things to happen to him, as he was stuck in a constant replay of his death, and even if he had wished for weeks to see Maiev’s eyes being alive again, seeing them again and again as he was feeling his life escaping his body, it had become too much. And actually, he was really glad to be given a second chance, as he was going to need to make some amendments, mainly with Maiev and he was hoping that he could find the words. Thankfully, he was already aware that she was there, as he had heard them saying her name and that she would take part in the fight as a commandant. As his equal.

Stopping by the basin to refresh his face, Illidan glared at himself through the mirror standing on the wall. His sight went all over his body until it reached his heart, and once again, Illidan brought a hand to it, caressing his skin as he frowned at the feeling under his fingers. There was no scar despite perfectly knowing that it was how he died. Could it be that it was simply some kind of demonic regeneration? Or did something happen with the crystal in which he was being imprisoned? Or… Did Maiev heal his body and took care of it? Would she really do that after everything he had done to her?

Grabbing the edge of the basin, Illidan’s knuckles paled as he lowered his head, his eyes tightly closed and his body shaking. How could he have been so blind in all those millennia? Why did he have to recognize Maiev only at the moment where she completely gave up? She, that nameless priestess that had supported and helped him for years. Why couldn’t he recognize her earlier? His legs gave up and he fell on his knees, now holding his head between his hands as he remembered how awful he had been to her, when he would have given his life to that priestess and he wasn’t sure that Maiev was aware of it. Especially after that he had pushed her to the point of being broken, only realizing his mistake once it was too late.

At least, now that Maiev had been able to kill him and that she was still alive, she could have only healed.

The cold wind was blowing through Deliverance Point as everyone was busy setting up the place. Taking advantage of some of the ruins that were left from the former Kaldorei empire, they were constructing the best headquarters to fight back the Legion. While Khadgar was supervising what would become a Mage Tower; Velen was busy setting up the Command Center, and Illidan decided to help build the resting area. It wasn’t much, but as he saw how some people were looking at him, rightfully when considering his past, he thought that by helping to the simpler tasks, and not necessarily taking over his role of commandant right away, he could show them that he was there to help this time. Using both his flying and mage abilities, he helped transport some of the stuff; either the cooking one; or the infirmary. Along the way, he made sure that the new buildings were solid enough and would resist through the passing of time, at least until they were done with the Legion on the Shore.

As he talked with one of the Pandaren cooks, mildly joking along as he was putting away the food and securing it, he felt a piercing gaze over his back and when he looked behind him to know the source of that discomfort, he saw her. Wearing her full armor, as always, Maiev was looking towards him, the green taint of the visor of her helmet judging him from his very existence. It was exactly the kind of feeling he had hope to see from her once again, but he just couldn’t be happy about it as there was something uneasy about it. Of course, he knew that the armor had been enhanced with magic to allow them to go beyond any kind of regular fight, and giving them a better chance of surviving in a hostile environment, but Maiev had always been able to show that she was way more than her armor and that she could intimidate anyone just by looking at them. And yet, it wasn’t feeling like that at all.

Noticing that Illidan was looking back, Maiev turned away, her cloak whipping in the wind as she left the place to join her Wardens again, as their task was to get rid of any demons left around Deliverance Point to avoid any surprise attack from within. It wasn’t that day that Illidan would have his conversation with her, but he felt that it was for the best for the time being. If people who had only heard about what he had done were already on the defensive about him being around, he couldn’t imagine what her feelings were, her who had experienced first-hand those horrors.

The days were passing by, sometimes being quiet, sometimes being awfully busy with a constant fight against the Legion and their troops. The Tomb was constantly spitting new waves of demons, and apparently, they weren’t really happy that they had established a headquarter so close to their precious portals, as they were regularly sending small invasions to destroy their buildings, hoping that it would stop the mortals. No luck for them, it was only giving them more will to fight back.

On his side, Illidan had moved from the safety of the Fel Hammer to Deliverance Point, using one of the tents put at their disposition to allow himself to be not only closer to the fight, but also closer to Maiev. He still hadn’t been able to talk to her at all since his return, but mostly because Maiev wasn’t talking back. The few times he had tried to engage in a conversation, she was only looking at him, in silence, and then, she would simply leave the place. No insults; no threats; nothing. Just plain silence.

But it wasn’t only for him as he quickly noticed. Even when Khadgar or Velen would talk to her, she was mostly moving her head as a way to answer, and they were seemingly accepting it, considering it normal. And when the adventurers were coming to get their daily mission from her, she was usually just giving them a scroll with the mission written on it and no one was questioning it at all. Illidan knew that it wasn’t normal for her, that if she had been the Maiev that he had known for over ten thousand years, she wouldn’t be silent.

Despite that it was worrying him, he also knew that he couldn’t show it. He had no right to be worried, especially not after what had happened at the Black Temple, and maybe that was the reason for her apparent muteness. Once again, it was his fault and he could only regret it, even more when his mind was deciding to bother him with memories of the nameless priestess, and how she had often been the one to carry the conversation as the time went on.

“Khadgar, can I ask you a question?” Illidan asked one day, after Maiev had left the place.

“Of course,” smiled the Archmage. “What is it?”

“Do you know how long Warden Shadowsong had been mute like that?”

He couldn’t even use her name when referring to her, only using her title.

“Oh… Not that long,” winced Khadgar. “She had no problem talking until you came back, but she had warned us that she didn’t wish to talk in your presence.”

So, it was a punishment.

“I understand better,” muttered Illidan.

“We tried to know why, but when we insisted, she immediately threatened us,” explained Khadgar. “So, we just accepted it as long as it doesn’t become a problem.”

Clearly, it wasn’t the time to say that for him, it was a problem as he wanted to talk to Maiev. To excuse himself and ask her to pardon him for everything. To have never realized who she was; that she had always taken care of him; and that he was sorry for her mistreatment at his hands. Of course, it wouldn’t erase anything, but he needed her to know that he had never wanted to do that in the first place, and that she had been right to kill him.

“Thank you Khadgar,” he simply said as he looked away, where Maiev had disappeared at some point, sighing.

Despite having fought all day, Illidan just couldn’t sleep that night. He was only tossing and turning between the sheets as he tried to stay within the limit of the tent. But most importantly, he was carefully listening while his eyes began to scan the area with his spectral sight. In one of the tents close to him, he saw Maiev’s body sitting as she was looking at her arms, delicately touching them. Then, he noticed that she was putting back her armor, and in a matter of seconds, she was leaving her tent in the middle of the night, probably to go on a nightly patrol. It was the fourth day in a row that he was seeing her doing that during the night, and usually, he wasn’t able to stay awake until her return and he had no idea how much Maiev was sleeping during the night. Not only he was never seeing her sleeping when he was looking at her with his spectral sight, only checking her body, but no matter how early he would wake up, she wouldn’t be in her tent and instead, already standing near the Command Center, ready to give orders around to the adventurers.

He tried to follow her with his eyes, to see if she was just going to use another tent, but like always, she was disappearing in the middle of the night and it was almost scaring Illidan. So much that he had started to sleep with a pillow over his bust, protecting his heart as he couldn’t stop remembering how she had stabbed him in his sleep. He had hopes that she wouldn’t do it again, but he couldn’t affirm it at all.

“And at that moment, the warrior, muddy until his bust, dropped the bag in front of me, and he simply said “never again”,” laughed Khadgar.

“You know, they will start to understand that you’re dropping those coins on purpose,” sighed Velen, pointing at Khadgar with his fork. “You should at least tell them the real purpose, instead of just being like: “Oh silly me, I dropped those gifts destined for someone.”.”

“I know, I know, but honestly, if I was being honest and telling them that those coins are absorbing enough Fel energy to corrupt a Titan, so we could study its effect and see how to redirect them to annihilate the Legion, no one would go and get them. By being the silly one, they just shrug and go get them for me.”

“They will end up discovering it.”

“Not sure,” replied Khadgar, biting into the meat from his plate. “I even put a protection spell on it that surrounds them with the color of the rainbow, they will never guess that it’s a weapon of mass destruction.”

“And your miscalculation for the Nether Shards… Also a lie?” kept asking Velen, a suspicious look on his face.

“Absolutely not, it was an honest mistake on my side…”

Illidan discreetly sighed as he continued to play with the food on his plate, the fork between his fingers way too small for him, but he didn’t care. As always, the commandants had decided to share their dinners as some kind of unofficial meeting, and Illidan really liked being part of it, as usual, it was just to talk about their day and how their personal fight was going. But what was bothering him the most, was that he had never seen Maiev at those dinners. In fact, as far as he remembered since his return, he had never seen her eating nor drinking. Every time she was being invited to join them, she was declining, and at first, Illidan thought that it was because of his presence, but even when he was refusing and going on with his day, Maiev wasn’t joining them. He had never seen her make a stop through the resting area.

A vague idea formed in his mind as he left his eyes wandering over the crowd of adventurers eating in peace next to them. It was a stupid idea that he knew could only be wrong, but unfortunately for him, a lot of clues were guiding him right to that solution, and he hated it. No, Maiev wouldn’t be dumb enough to do such a thing.

And yet, a little voice in his mind wouldn’t stop telling him that it was the case.

“Hey, I was wondering…” Illidan began out loud, not even looking at Khadgar or Velen. “Has anyone seen Warden Shadowsong without her helmet, or any part of her armor?”

Khadgar raised an eyebrow as he leaned back, crossing his arms as he tried to remember if it happened since he knew Maiev. Velen quickly mimicked him, also searching in his memory.

“Not as I remember,” finally said Khadgar. “I don’t even think I could describe what her face looks like…”

“Same on my side,” added Velen. “She’s always in her armor when I meet or see her.”

“Alright, thank you,” quickly said Illidan as his eyes kept wandering, but this time, an angry growl built up in his throat.

That night, he was going to have a little conversation with Maiev, whether she wanted or not.

Illidan had never known the name of that priestess, to his greatest misfortune, and he had often regretted it. He had always loved her company and how she had shown a genuine interest in their conversation, unlike all those other priestesses who were only serving as a decoy for Tyrande. After all, he had been painfully aware that Tyrande was using them to get away when he was going to the temple and yet, he couldn’t stop himself to hope that this time, it would be the right one. That for once, Tyrande was going to accept that he walks her back home. Vain hopes.

That day, he had decided that it was the last time that he was trying, and when he presented himself to the temple, he couldn’t stop himself to roll his eyes as the priestess told him to wait as she would see if Tyrande was available. He knew that she was just going to get another priestess to keep him busy while Tyrande would leave on her own, and he was so ready to ditch whoever would show up. But as she walked towards him, his heart skipped a beat.

He had never seen her before, but he immediately noticed that she was beautiful, more than certainly older than him and Tyrande, and she was radiating with such a strong Elune’s energy that he almost forgot his own name as she talked to him. Her face was clearly telling him that she was a decoy, but he just couldn’t go on with his plan, and just went on with the usual. It was when she chuckled for the first time that Illidan knew that he had a pretty big crush on her, but unfortunately, she was way out of his league to even hope to go further than casual conversation.

And yet, as the day passed, he came back and this time, seeing Tyrande was only a pretext to see that nameless priestess and spending some time with her. Obviously, once he realized that she was being used as a decoy more and more often, he was ecstatic and decided to enjoy every single second spent with her.

What he was loving the most about her, was her eyes. They were looking so soft and loving, as you would expect from a Priestess of Elune, and yet, sometimes he could see the determination that made them shine even brighter. She wouldn’t hesitate to kick ass if she had to, and he was loving the hell of it. He knew that she had the potential to go really far in life, and he was secretly hoping that it would be the case.

As he knew that he had no chances with her, he continued to pursue Tyrande until she had rejected him. It hadn’t been a hard rejection, as actually, Tyrande wasn’t attracted to him, but as he also was his childhood friend and that she only wanted to keep him close because she was valuing their friendship, she said it in a way that told him, not now. So, in his mind, he knew that he still had some chances to get with her, but despite it, it had really hurt him and he had left to find some comfort and his steps led him to that temple. And almost as a miracle, it was she who found him.

As she told him to not give up on Tyrande, her words were knives right into his heart as deep inside, he had almost hoped that he could get more. He knew that if she was showing at least an ounce of interest in him, he would immediately answer. Unfortunately, it never came and he went on with his life.

Not even knowing her name.

When he finally recognized her, she was beaten, bruised, and bloody. He was inside her after a fight where they had tried to kill each other and suddenly, as she tried to kill him one last time with the scissors, she admitted her long last feelings for him. But it was too late. She was already broken and the light in her eyes vanished. He had broken her and it was all his fault.

He had never thought that he would welcome death with such enthusiasm, but knowing that Maiev’s eyes were shining again was enough.

Illidan was patiently waiting, sitting in his tent as he waited for his prey, carefully scanning the area with his spectral sight. He had left the resting area as soon as he had gotten the answers he needed, and not even Khadgar’s warning gaze couldn’t stop him. In their mind, Maiev was rightfully avoiding Illidan as she had been his jailor and ultimately killed him, and he had no doubt that she had probably been against his return, but Illidan knew that it was more than that. She was avoiding him because he knew more about her than she would ever admit.

Finally, a well-known silhouette appeared in his line of sight, and he took a deep breath to brace himself. Slowly, he got up and waited just a little more for Maiev to be in front of her tent, as he needed her to be trapped with no possibility to run away, as he had no doubts that she would do it. And as soon as she was exactly where he needed her to be, Illidan got out and walked in her direction.

“Maiev,” he growled as a way to call her.

She looked at him, not proceeding yet what was happening until Illidan grabbed her wrists and entered the tent, forcing her against the floor as he needed to test her. If it was really Maiev under that armor, the Maiev he had known for over ten thousand years, then he was going to regret doing that as she would be able to defend herself. But if she wasn’t, Illidan would keep full control.

“Let me go, you fuck!” she growled back as she put her feet against his waist, warning him that she would push him back.

He frowned at the voice, who was sounding exactly as he remembered, and yet, it was sounding strangely off. Even her murderous gaze was off from the visor of her helmet, and Illidan knew that he had to keep listening to his intuitions. Without saying anything, he let go of one of her wrists and brought his hand on the other arm, ready to remove the gauntlet that was covering her lower arm. Immediately, Maiev grabbed his own wrists to stop him.

“Don’t you dare!” she spitted, even if he could hear the fear in her voice.

“I just need to be sure of something,” he growled back, his anger taking over him as Maiev’s reaction was completely an admission in his eyes.

“I’m going to kill you again if you do that!”

Yet, the threat was sounding empty, desperate.

“Come on Maiev, if you don’t have anything to hide, you will let me remove that gauntlet!”

And without waiting for another empty threat, he took out that piece of armor by force. As he had expected, yet really hoped that it wouldn’t be the case, he got welcomed by the spell he had put on her so long ago, the one allowing her to survive despite the starvation. Immediately, he went to remove the second gauntlet, already aware that Maiev had stopped fighting, and once again, he saw another spell on her second wrist. The one to prevent death by thirst.

Maiev had never removed them since the Black Temple and probably hadn’t eaten nor drank ever since.

With a shaking hand, Illidan grabbed the helmet and slowly removed it. The first thing that he saw, was the bright spell on her throat, allowing her to keep speaking normally, and as he continued to take off the helmet, he finally saw her eyes. As dead as he remembered. It had only been the magic on her helmet that allowed her to pretend that everything was fine, and it was why it had been looking so off to Illidan all those times. Under him, Maiev stayed in guilty silence.

Despite his hands shaking even more, he began to undress her from her armor, only to discover that she was back into the same puppet self from the Black Temple, where she had left herself to be at his mercy. And the more he was undressing her, the more he was discovering spells that had been added through the years over her body. To give her strength; to prevent her from sleeping; yet one to give her the benefits of sleep; and so much more. Her body was almost tattooed with those spells that were keeping her alive.

If some of them were to be broken, Maiev could drop dead at that very moment.

With horror, Illidan realized that Maiev had never healed from the Black Temple and that she only pushed back the day of her death by keeping herself alive with those spells, despite her body being an empty shell moving around thanks to magic.

Slowly, Maiev turned her head to look at him in the eyes, and her mouth began to move.

“You should have killed me that day.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it!  
> Tomorrow: A one-shot that ElisZelis is impatiently waiting.
> 
> See you tomorrow and every day until Christmas with a new fic!
> 
> \----  
> Unfortunately, English isn't my first language so if someone is interested in becoming my beta-reader for the language, hit me up on my Tumblr!  
> Or if you just want to talk about WoW, my fics, someone else fics, or anything, you can still hit me up there!
> 
> https://thewritingof-therose.tumblr.com/
> 
> or on Discord
> 
> https://discord.gg/nvKggwc (An Illidan/Maiev Discord)
> 
> Later!
> 
> (Comments are welcomed and appreciated :D)


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